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Fire Sparks Evacuation of Nuclear Lab at INL

A research facility at the Idaho National Laboratory was evacuated Monday when a welder's torch ignited a fire on the roof of the building. INL officials insisted that no radioactive material was involved in the incident and no one was hurt.

Nearly 100 employees were cleared from the building while firefighters worked on the blaze. The complex of buildings where the fire started is part of a sprawling 890-square-mile campus of facilities - some of which house spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste - about 38 miles from the city of Idaho Falls.

Several thousand employees and contractors work at the INL, the U.S. Energy Department's leading facility for nuclear reactor technology.